How many hitmen does it take to take out a target? According to an outrageous caper in China the answer is apparently five. But get this, they still didn’t get the target. Now five men and their employer stand to do time in prison for attempted murder. The complicated string of would-be killers started when Chinese businessman Tan Youhui paid an assassin $283,000 to kill his competitor Wei Mou in 2013. Instead of eliminating Mou himself, the first hitman outsourced his job to another hitman for $141,000. This hitman then employed a third individual to carry out the hit for him for $38,000 up front and then an additional $71,000 after the job was completed. Lastly, triggerman number four hired a fifth hired gun to give Mou the coupe de grace.
Talk about outsourcing the middleman.
But just when this story could’t get any more ridiculous, the fifth hitman, upset that he was getting the short end of the deal did the one thing a hitman should probably never do which is complain about it to the police. At this point the entire convoluted scheme fell through and all six parties involved found themselves under arrest.
Justice was served as the sentences were handed out in descending order from the original culprits.
The first gunman, Xi Guangan was sentenced to 42 months in prison. Hitman number two, Mo Tianxiang received 36 months, while hitmen number three and four got 39 months each. The last assassin, Ling Xiansi, who broke the news to police will serve 31 months. Lastly, businessman, Tan Youhui was given five years for starting the whole mess.
